


Hooks

by EllaWorm11



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Some Fluff, and also the rest of them, bear with me i haven't written in 4 years, is it really a triumphant return to writing if it's a meh work, this is just some random thing, yes i do miss natasha romanov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 02:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20771402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllaWorm11/pseuds/EllaWorm11
Summary: Thor is tired and sad and Peter wants to help.





	Hooks

Peter dropped onto the ledge beside Thor. He didn’t know Thor well, he’d only met the god of thunder briefly and mostly knew him from the other’s stories. But sitting alone atop the old Avenger tower, he looked small, and he looked sad. So Peter took a breath, and joined him. 

“Hi Spiderman.” Thor said softly. 

“Hi, uh, Thor.” Peter drummed his heels on the wall. Dr. Banner had told him that one of the perks of being an Avenger was not having to address them all as “Mr” or “Dr” or whatever, but Peter was still getting used to it. “What are you doing up here?” 

Thor let out a short huff, and smiled. “Thinking about old times.” He turned back took look out over the city. Peter nodded, not sure what to say to a literal god who had seen more than Peter could imagine. Stormbreaker was wedged into the cement block next to Thor, and Peter eyed the deep gash it sat in. Thor noticed, and chuckled softly. “I didn’t actually do that, you know.” 

Peter looked at him in surprise. As far as he knew, the only other person capable of wielding Stormbreaker was Captain America, and it was hard to imagine him swinging the massive ax into the block for no reason. “Did Captain America?” He asked hesitantly. 

That actually got a laugh out of the sullen Thor. “No, Steve never lifted Stormbreaker, or Mjolnir for that matter, until he had to.” Thor looked at Peter’s confused expression and chuckled again. “I knew he could have lifted them whenever he wanted, but he chose not to. Wanted a dramatic reveal in battle, I guess.” Thor and Peter shared a grin. They both knew that wasn’t Steve’s reason. 

“Who put it there, then?” Peter asked. He didn’t want to pry, especially when Thor looked so sad and so tired, but he was really curious. If it wasn’t Thor and it wasn’t Captain America, who else could swing a godly weapon? 

Thor’s smile faded into the sort of nostalgic expression Peter had seen May get when she talked about his parents. “For awhile everyone thought only I could lift my hammer and my ax. But the magic isn’t “Only Thor can lift this,” it’s “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” Whoever is worthy can use it.”

Peter stared at the ax. “Who else is worthy?” He ventured hesitantly. 

“A good handful, actually.” Thor nodded as Peter’s jaw dropped. “Besides Steve, Vision was the only one all the Avengers knew about. He picked it up and handed it to me to end a very dramatic speech before we went to fight Ultron, it was quite impressive. Unexpected.” Thor looked at his hands. “He’s also the only one I didn’t guess, but that’s ‘cause I didn’t have time to guess, he just appeared and said something inspiring and handed me Mjolnir.” Thor paused. “Probably the most I ever heard him say, actually. I didn’t get to know him that well.” 

Peter bit his lip and looked back at the city. They were straying out of his very limited realm of emotional expertise. “I’m sorry.” He tried slowly. “Mr. Stark said he was a good guy.” Actually, Mr. Stark had never explained exactly what Vision was, but he had said good things about him. 

Thor nodded slowly, watching Peter. “Valkyrie told me I should change the words to “if _ they _ be worthy” cause there’s no reason to exclude women. But it doesn’t really matter, anyone worthy can lift it. The pronoun-or whatever doesn’t affect that.” 

Peter’s attention snapped back to Thor. “Was it Captain Marvel?” 

Thor laughed again. “She can wield it, but she didn’t swing at the cement either.” Peter nodded. He’d only met the space lady for a minute and there had been a lot happening, but he wasn’t surprised she was worthy. He hesitated, not sure he wanted to ask his next question, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Thor, though, had spent enough time around never-heard-of-a-poker-face-Bruce to guess what Peter was thinking. “Tony tried, once.” Peter looked at him, and Thor met his eyes. “He couldn’t lift Mjolnir when he tried, years ago, but I think in the end he could have. And I’ve never been wrong about who can lift it.” 

Peter looked down, and watched the people on the sidewalk below them. He missed Mr. Stark. He could tell Thor missed him too. They sat in the quiet for a minute, letting themselves remember. 

“Natasha did it.” 

Peter’s head whipped back to Thor so fast he briefly felt like he would knock himself off the edge. Thor smiled, soft and short and wistful. Peter waited for him to go on. 

“I want to say I guessed she could, although the truth is I hadn’t thought about it, not until I dared them all. She didn’t want to try. “That’s not a question I need answered,” she said.” Thor paused, and chuckled. “I learned a lot that night- that was when I confirmed Steve could lift it but didn’t want to. And that was when I realized I’d let myself fall for one of the Black Widow’s traps: I’d underestimated her. She laughed at the guys, and rolled her eyes, but I knew she could do it if she tried. And she knew it, too. She said she didn’t need the answer, but that was only because she already knew. She didn’t want everyone else to know. But Natasha’s smart,” Thor’s voice hitched. Peter pretended not to notice the tears in his eyes as he took a breath, pretended not to notice how he refused to use the past tense. “Natasha’s smart. She knew, and after that, she knew I knew. And it became a game.” Thor huffed a laugh. “She started moving it to mess with me.” 

Peter’s eyes widened as he watched Thor. He hadn’t known Natasha very well, but she hadn’t struck him as the class clown. Thor seemed to read his mind. “You wouldn’t expect it, but she had a wicked sense of humor.” This time, when he used the past tense, it seemed to hit him like a punch. He winced, and stared out over the horizon for a minute before he continued. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “It started when no one else was around. I was sitting in the kitchen and I’d left Mjolnir on the counter. She walked up behind me like she was going to steal my poptarts, and then she just paused. And she called Mjolnir to her hand. She didn’t say anything, she just kind of stared at it for a second. And then she looked at me and _ grinned _ , and dropped it in my lap and walked away.” Thor was letting the tears run down his face now, and Peter very nervously dug a crumpled napkin out of his pocket to offer. He had very little experience comforting crying adults, but Thor smiled and accepted it before going on. “After that, she started moving it when no one would see her. I thought I was losing my mind at first. I’d leave it in the training room, and when I went to grab it, it would be in the movie room. Just little stuff, so that no one would notice but me. And she would _ smirk _ . I’d leave it by the door only to have to call it back from the roof, and Tony would start ranting about the holes in the ceiling and she would just _ grin _.” Thor took a long, shaking breath. 

“I miss them.” 

Peter met his eyes. “I do too.”

They sat there together for awhile, watching the people below, remembering the people they had lost. Finally, Thor continued. 

“Steve, Vision, Captain Marvel, Natasha, they’re not the only ones. I believe if he tried, Sam Wilson could wield it. Valkyrie, too, though I already gave her the crown and I think she’d be annoyed if I tried to make her take that too.” Thor chuckled. “Groot sacrificed his arm to make Stormbreaker, he lifted it as it was forged and he could lift it now. Rhodey could, and I think he will, one day.” He paused, and turned to study Peter. “And you’ve wielded Mjolnir.” 

Peter’s jaw dropped. “No- what?” He stammered. “I haven’t lifted- I haven’t tried! I didn’t-” 

“You did.” Thor patted his shoulder gently. “Steve threw it to you during the fight, it lifted you off the ground and up to Valkyrie.” Peter stared at him. Of course he remembered that; he’d just turned on instant kill, he was holding the Infinity Gauntlet, he was fighting for his life and starting to lose when Captain America had called called him Queens, and then he’d grabbed whatever lifeline he’d been thrown and landed on a pegasus. 

“That was-?” Thor nodded. Peter’s eyes were wide with shock. He stared past Thor at Stormbreaker. “Ok, but that wasn’t really wielding it. Captain America threw it, I just held on.”

“Same thing.” Thor waved a hand at Peter’s protests. “Wanda’s brother, Pietro, he tried the same thing before he joined us. Mjolnir dropped right to the ground.” Peter stared at the god, the god who had apparently just announced that Peter himself was worthy to share his godly powers. He felt frozen. 

Thor laughed, and pushed himself up off the ledge. He lifted Peter by the shoulders and, with a soft smile, he pointed to Stormbreaker. “Go ahead.” 

Peter stared at him, and looked at Stormbreaker. The ax looked heavier than he did. He took a step towards it. With Thor watching, he wrapped both hands around the handle. 

Three days later, as he prepared to leave for New Asgaard, Thor reached for Stormbreaker only to have his hand wave through empty air. He stared at the counter. He could have sworn he left it in the kitchen. He looked around the room, and then he turned around slowly. 

Once, long ago, Maria Hill had noticed how when the Avengers came back from missions they always left pieces of their gear by the elevator door, dropping it as soon as they could. As a joke, she’d stuck hooks into the wall and Clint had labelled them with little doodles of each of their names. Thor’s hook had lightning bolts around a microphone, a tribute to the Rock of Ages nickname Tony had given him. Stormbreaker was hanging two hooks down, stuck to the wall by a spiderweb under a hook marked by ballet shoes and throwing knives. Thor smiled, and pretended not to notice as Peter ducked around the corner giggling.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in four years so this is a bit rough, but I have a lot of feels and some time on my hands so here we are. I decided Thor knows who can wield his weapons, and I decided Natasha is worthy and has always been and I will die on this hill. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Oh and yes I did toss in a throwback to the good old "Thor eats a crapton of Poptarts" era because nostalgia.


End file.
